Easy WiFi Tether With FoxFi

Today I sat down with a colleague here in Oklahoma City for lunch. The discussion centered on his new purchase of the Asus Transformer Prime, which is certainly a front-runner device for lawyers. What I gained from the meeting though was FoxFi.

One of the major upgrades to my wireless plan when I purchased the new Motorola Droid Bionic was the mobile hotspot add-on. Although this is a pricey subset, it’s a necessity when I travel to various courts. My biggest hesitation has always been the cost. Now, though, FoxFi gives me all of the advantages of Verizon’s tethering plan, without the costs.

The FoxFi app is easy to set up, and basically works with the click of an icon. The FoxFi settings are simple. I certainly recommend that you rename your WiFi network, and add a WPA2 password.

If you’re looking to take your law practice mobile, then you need this app. The best part: it’s free.

17 Responses to Easy WiFi Tether With FoxFi

Looks like a nice app – but what are the differences and advantages over the built-in tethering mode in Android? My phone (Android 2.2) provides an encrypted wifi hotspot mode out of the box, so why get an app for that?

Sebastian,
FoxFi is for users who cannot create a mobile hotspot without a subscription to their carrier’s program. Newer phones, such as my Droid Bionic, have hotspot ability, but it’s blocked by Verizon.

There are other good apps out on the Android Market, but some require that you root your device, or don’t provide quick setup features that make hotspot provisioning easy.

Jeffrey, thank you for this clarification. Over here in Europe, some (or most?) carriers don’t seem to block the bulit-in tethering option, even if they do not permit tethering in the carrier contract. I myself do not use this feature although it’s enabled on my phone, since I’m not allowed to do so by my carrier. But, as said, technically it should be possible here.

Sebastian, thanks for the comment and no problem. I haven’t found anything else that’s blocked, although there is a lot of “bloatware” on the phone, thus creating one of the advantages to rooting the Android device. Verizon blocks the mobile hotspot so they can charge to access their system, which isn’t bad, but certainly isn’t worth the cost.

If you’re not paying for something which Verizon otherwise charges for, are you breaking the terms of service with Verizon? Could they enforce a tethering fee, even without you signing up for the service?

Dan, good observation. You’re likely (though I haven’t viewed them in awhile) breaking the TOS. My guess is that Verizon, or any other carrier, could enforce the fee. I have an unlimited package which includes provisioning for tethering.

By adding the WPA2 password for the use of Foxfi on my phone as shown above, prevent other users from being able to use my phone as a hotspot for their device while i have the app turned on for my use. Me and my husband both have droid phones, mine being a 4G LTE Razor and his being a 3G Ally and we both have our own laptops. We can both access each others hotspots from both computers ( when the app is turned on) without entering passwords that we have set. Any input you can give is greatly appricated. We are both new to using this app.

Lori, and I can’t comment as to the legality of the app, though I suspect you’re probably violating some terms of use. My guess is that the carrier can remove access, but likely won’t because of the logistics and uproar. One of the biggest benefits of Android though is the ability to modify the OS.

Trying to connect FoxFi unsing bluetooth but keep getting a PPP connection error and sometimes a modem error. I have a Droid Incredible 2 from Verizon. Not sure if there’s something wrong withmy settings. Can you help.

[…] s); })(); Verizon is announcing that it will no longer block third-party tethering apps, like FoxFi. While I never had a problem accessing tethering, I got several reports that people were having […]

Hey droid lawyer for some odd i think i accidentally updated my phone and i am very familiar with the foxfi on my lg Venice from boost and all of a sudden im not allowed to use it anymore like when i download and install it and click activate it will firsly turn off my wifi signal and say cannot activate wifi mode i have tied renaming it please help!! I like my free internet for my laptop

The free FoxFi is great, but there is a time limit on it’s usage before they require you to restart the app to continue and I believe it is slower than the purchased app. So…I bought the app for a one time price of $7.95. That’s cheap. This is the ONLY app I have ever purchased and it is well worth the price when we are traveling. My wife uses an I-pad and I use a Kindle Fire. I run it on my Droid. It seamlessly allows both of us to connect to WiFi in either 3g/4g (which ever is available).